Why Your Digital Marketing Failed - An Unapologetic Guide to Achieving Digital Success

July 21, 2020

Dim Apostolovski

Hello!

“What you are about to read will change your life forever!” No good? How about, “I’m going to reveal the insider secrets that have led to *insert ridiculous and outlandish claim* and how you can do the same!”Am I getting warmer?I hope your answer is a firm and resounding “no” but there is also a chance that my inference to what may have led you here is the reason you may be reading this right now? Am I getting warmer now? I think I may be, so let us begin.First, let me introduce myself, my name is Dim Apostolovski, General Manager of the Australian based digital marketing agency, Clearwater Agency. I love Prince (the musician, not the royals!), I enjoy running, meditation and long walks along the beach, oh wrong audience, wrong forum and wrong on all fronts!Where am I going with all this, this is nothing like what the title of this article suggested!Really? Let’s tackle that assertion for a moment, shall we?Having spent over a decade in the digital marketing space, boy could I tell you some stories, like this one time… Woops, did it again, sorry - I think you get the point by now.

Let’s get to business

My name, position, location and obsession for the artist Prince I can assure you are legitimate, also my time within the digital marketing industry which is edging close to fifteen years but hey, who’s counting?I’ve had the honour and pleasure of leading some of Australian’s most successful digital marketing teams and specialists and along the way, working closely with some of the most successful Australian businesses, large and small.The massive slabs of content you see below was born out a weekend conversation with former peers and colleagues when asked the question, “how’s business?” Typically, this is a question asked as pleasantry, but this time was different.It wasn’t long before each of us were riffing with one another about the state of digital marketing, our trials and tribulations, successes, failures, frustrations, joys, well you get the gist. As our conversation went on, I began to wonder, was this a form of confirmation bias? Was I hearing what I wanted to hear? Were these my opinions, beliefs being confirmed in an echo chamber? What about the facts? What facts I ask you, do facts even matter?All facts (and jokes) aside, what was clear was that this wasn’t the first time I had heard this soundtrack. Unlike the incredible and arguably greatest soundtrack of all time (by you know who), the ending of conversation did not leave me satisfied, but simply frustrated, realising our conversation was a broken record.What was confirmed was that we were discussing the same things we did when we spoke last, oh and the time before that, and the time before… You get the idea; a broken record was the best way to describe it.The following day I decided to settle this once and for all and knew it was time to attempt to set the record straight. Is that even possible with scratched LP records? At the very least, it was time to record a new soundtrack.What you are about to read is my view, my opinion, my experiences and quite frankly, my attempt to set the record straight. My experience leading digital marketing agencies, advising and consulting business owners and ultimately my insights, thoughts and advice to support both digital agencies and Australian business owners in achieving business growth and success.In my time I have seen the success and failure of countless businesses due to the impact of their digital marketing or lack thereof.

An unapologetic guide

My intention is to provide an unapologetic guide to help digital agencies provide exceptional performance and service for their clients. “Wait, you are going to help your competitors?” Well, I truly hope so, competition breeds excellence!It equally (if not more so) serves to support Australian businesses with their digital marketing journey and provide both a cautionary tale and straight forward ways to plan and achieve success.Shall we begin?

1. Business Viability - the health & maturity of your business

Now I am sure this question may leave some readers feeling anywhere from a little anxious to downright offended and rightly so, for many it can be a rather confronting question, especially if success has eluded them. “Of course, I have a viable business!”Unfortunately, it’s difficult to argue with the data indicating that approximately 60% of business will fail in their first three years. What may surprise you is that 50% of the businesses that fail are actually profitable. In this article we will not tackle all the reasons businesses fail but I think it’s important to call out the most common reasons.

Reasons businesses fail

These include: lack of leadership, poor management skills, poor planning, poor governance, mismanagement of financials, business model and unsuccessful marketing initiatives.I’m sure you can see why I wanted to call these out and more importantly those reasons for failure that we will tackle today - care to take a guess? If you said business model and failed marketing initiatives you would correct, unfortunately today’s guessing game does not come with a prize but it will serve as a cautionary tale of the impact the guessing game can have on your business.

Your business model

So, let us begin. When we talk business model, we are essentially describing a conceptual structure that supports the viability of a business and describes how it will operate, generate revenue and how it expects to achieve its goals. The digital age has ushered in dozens of new, viable business models that have revolutionised industries, commerce and the way we live.When we talk business models it’s important to know that most businesses do not operate on any one model but are often a combination of many.Some of the most common models include; manufacturing, distribution, retail, franchise, bricks-and-mortar, eCommerce, bricks-and-clicks, subscription, advertisement, agency-based, affiliate and drop-shipping to name just a few.As you can see each provides a unique set of considerations; when businesses operate with a combination of multiple models you can see how complexity and risk can quickly grow. Each model has its advantages and limitations, do you know what they are for your business?It might surprise you how this simple and ordinarily straight forward question can leave business owners tongue tied.Ensure that you understand your business model inside and out. What may feel like a trivial question and exercise is often overlooked and/or misunderstood resulting in one of the most common reasons that a business will fail.Now, the reason why we are all here.

Unsuccessful marketing initiatives

I am going to spare you my sermon on what should be rather obvious, that is, businesses would fail to exist if it was not for marketing, why? Marketing drives sales, sales drive revenue and revenue will lead to… you get the idea.Marketing is an essential channel and the lifeblood of a business. Hang on, I thought sales was also the lifeblood of a business? Right you are, let’s label marketing and sales as the “vascular system” of a business, as you can’t move blood without veins.Unfortunately, many business owners approach their marketing much like the quote from the classic 1989 Kevin Costner flick, Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come”. Leaving them wondering, “where are all my customers?”

if you build it, they will come - WRONG!

So how do you ensure your business has a healthy “vascular system”?

There are many reasons why the marketing initiatives fail, these can include its business plan, campaign strategy, market research, capability (strategic and execution), cost and budget, value proposition, branding or brand name to name just a few.First step, get your diet and exercise in order. Wait, are we still talking about marketing? Yes, indeed we are, much like getting in shape it can take a lot of heaving lifting at first, it can take time to see results, requiring patience and sticking to a plan and routine, until one day? You guessed it, the fruits of your hard work pay off as you continue to take steps on the pathway to success and in this example, health.There is an important reason I am using health and fitness as an example and the vascular system to represent the health of your business.Much like diet and fitness fads promoting and making outlandish claims to get in shape, we typically find similarities within the digital marketing space.Let’s cut to chase, getting shape does not require a personal trainer used by Hollywood stars or the sports nutritionist from your favourite sporting team, neither does your digital marketing.Today we will go back to basics, whether you are new to digital marketing or looking to get your “vascular system” in order, I promise to do my best to make this exercise as enjoyable as possible. No pain no gain?

2. Are you ready?

So, someone has told you that you should be doing digital marketing, perhaps an SEO agency in order to get onto the front page of Google and drive free traffic to your website? No? Was it that you need social media marketing and a new website after seeing your competitors on Facebook and visiting their newly launched but enviously stunning website?This is a very common path for small business owners at the early stages of their digital journey.Unfortunately, this can come with many misconceptions, expectations and lead to business owners investing with a digital marketing agency when they are not ready.Alternatively, you may currently or have previously partnered with an agency but success has evaded you.This is a very common place we find small business owners in. Many partnering with an agency, often moving from one agency to another, leaving them disenchanted and discouraged if this bloody digital marketing thing actually works? Inner conflict can occur as they see their competitors organic search results, social media presence and brand name appearing everywhere, leaving them asking, why not me?

Think you’re ready? Can you answer the 7 questions below?

So how do you know if you are ready to partner with a digital agency? Here are essential questions you need to ask:

Do you have a clear business plan; clear goals, targets, objectives including financials such as your budget?
Can I afford the required investment? How long can I wait until I see a return?
How will I measure performance, what are these metrics? These should be metrics connected to your goals & objectives, i.e. increase in sales, leads, enquires or conversions
Are you investing in lead generation or building your brand and business?
What are your expectations from a potential partner, performance and service levels?
Risk mitigation - is the success of your business overly reliant on digital marketing working?
Are you clear on what the services offered are and how they work? You don’t need to be technically-minded, but you should have a clear view and conceptual understanding of the service provided.

There are many incredible digital marketing agencies in Australia, many providing exceptional work but their success and those of their clients is often dictated by answering the questions I have outlined above.

Why you? Yes you!

This question can often leave a bewildered look on the face of business owners as if a cardinal sin has been committed. It’s mortifying how often this bewildered look is seen. I won’t mince words when I say that if you cannot articulate and state why your target market should pick you over your competition then it’s time to stop what you are doing and answer this question right now. We call this yourIn a nutshell it forms part of a company’s overall marketing strategy and informs consumers as to why it deserves their business. It also serves as a statement informing consumer what the business stands for and how it operates. It is the promise your brand is making to the audience that it intends to build a relationship with.

What’s your value proposition?

The importance of a value proposition cannot be overstated for not only your marketing but brand.If you do not have a clear value proposition, I recommend you break it into the following tasks:

What are all the benefits of the product or service you are offering?
Describe what makes the benefits of the product or service valuable;
What is main problem of the customers in your target audience?
Connect the value that you provide with the customers problem;
What makes your business the one they should choose to provide this value?

One of the biggest mistake business owners can make is to outsource their business to a third party. In many cases we see digital agencies becoming this third party where expectations are often unrealistic and fanciful.If you find yourself expecting an agency to drive and deliver your business success from start to finish it might be time to step back and reassess your focus. Often this leads business owners moving from one agency to another like a game of musical chairs.Do not outsource the responsibility and ownership of your business, a harsh truth that many find themselves facing.Your agency should be seen as an extension of your business, a partner if you will, providing capability and expertise to help you achieve your business goals and objectives.This takes us back to the original question, are you ready to partner with a digital marketing agency?

Are you planning to fail?

Do you have a business plan? Do you have a clear understanding of what the problem is that you are trying to solve? Do you understand your numbers and financials? Does your business have a clear value proposition?Do you have your house in order?Are you left scratching your head with the questions I have outlined above? If so, it might be time to reassess whether you are ready to hire a digital agency for the first, second, third or even forth time.You’ve likely heard how Benjamin Franklin once stated, “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”, a statement that should remind us of the importance of having a plan in place. Sadly however, this step is still all too often overlooked.Ok then, I will assume that you have answered yes to all the questions and your house is in order.Great, we are ready to proceed!

3. Service Costs - service options & investment level

Understanding your financials and numbers is critical for the success of any business; furthermore, understanding how your digital marketing service costs should align to your business goals.This principle rings true whether you are looking for a full-service agency, in-house specialists, contractors or freelancers.One of the biggest drivers of the level of investment required is determined by the “problem you are needing to solve”, the objectives you have set and the goals you would want to achieve.I will take you through other drivers and influences in determining costs and budget requirements shortly.Let’s look at some basic examples and answer the question I posed earlier, “are you investing in lead generation or building your brand and business?”Oh, I hear some of you saying that you have eCommerce websites and require more sales, yes, please consider eCommerce in the “lead generation” category.

So, what are some examples of what this might look like?

Service based businesses looking for clients (enquires -> leads) such as lawyers, architects and locksmiths;
An eCommerce business looking to generate more traffic and visitors to their website to increase sales and online revenue;
A bricks and mortar business looking to build its brand name;
A bricks and clicks business wanting to increase the foot traffic to its physical stores and generate more sales online;
A subscription-based business looking to increase the number of its subscribers.

These are basic examples to illustrate that on paper, they don’t tell us much, let alone determining what service(s) would be the best fit for each. By services I am referring to the most common services offered by digital marketing agencies, such as SEO, PPC marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and email marketing to name just a few.How would one begin to suggest services and applicable fees without understanding a client’s business goals, targets, timeframes and expectations, much alone a marketing strategy? The answer is typically a somewhat arbitrary service recommendation and attached service fee.Unfortunately, this is common and maybe the reason you are reading this right now wondering why you current or previous digital marketing campaigns have failed.Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Rent or Mortgage?

What is it that you are trying to achieve?

Let’s review and step back for a moment and once again ask, what are you trying to achieve, are you looking to generate leads or are you looking to build your brand name, or both?You see, much like the physical reality of renting or owning house by having a mortgage, both have their pros and cons. In some cases, it makes sense to follow one path versus the other and this simply depends on your business and the position you are in, including any dependants you may have.I see lead generation and building a brand much in the same way. Lead generation websites, campaigns and other assets are much like renting, regardless of the digital channel(s) that maybe utilised to do so.Whether it’s through paid advertising such as the Google Ads network or search engine optimisation, I consider this approach similar to paying rent, it serves a clear purpose and a simple one - pay to play with lead generation as the focused objective.With the “rent” example for lead generation, what is the marketing investment you can afford and feel comfortable to pay to play? With this, comes knowing what your required ROI and margins are.Now you might be saying, I don’t want to be a renter, I would rather purchase a home. In our example, I liken a mortgage loan to that of building your business and brand. Your brand name and equity will govern the value of your “home” and in this case, your business, and the investment you have made in it.

Vision of the future

When investing in your brand name and business you are doing so with a vision of the future, considering the value of your asset, years or even decades into the future.Much like the reality of home prices and cost of living, digital real estate is no different. Whether it’s the cost of paid adverting or the digital real estate of being on the front page of the Google search results, costs typically increase as time goes on.It’s important to consider your digital investment in your business for your domain and brand name much in the same way.When determining your budget for your digital marketing, consider your business needs, goals & objectives before all others. With our basic example it can be rather binary, do you need to drive traffic to increase your online sales, leads, enquires or subscriptions as an example or do you require more than simply “renting” at this stage by wanting to build your brand with a multifaceted marketing strategy and campaign?

How much do you need to spend?

You might be asking, so how much should I be spending? That depends on several factors, one of them being the capability of the agency or the existing team members within your business. “I thought this article was meant to answer questions not create more of them?” You are right and that’s why we will break this into three factors that should build guiding factors that will determine costings, timeframes and budget requirements

Competition - how competitive is your industry/market? One of the biggest factors that will influence the level of your investment
Locale & Targeting - local, metro, national or global targeting? Targeting will greatly influence the level of investment
Domain & brand authority - two factors that money alone can not influence as they also require time as well as factors that can and do, sit outside of the digital space exclusively
Capability - capability of your digital marketing team will drive your costs. Note, more expensive does not necessarily equate to better performance and more affordable does not equate to substandard results. We will explore this further in our capability section.
Complexity - often overlooked, complexity to deliver campaign success extends beyond those of digital specialists. This can include utilising resources within an agency that sit outside of “people” and those relating to external partners, data and technology.

There are many factors that will determine cost, I’ve outlined five that can greatly influence budget requirements but did not include one that is commonly overlooked that I have intentionally left off the list - that being, timeframes.Timeframes are the output of the five inputs above and can differ greatly, an agency will typically provide a range and should consider the above factors, client expectations and budget.

4. Capability – requirements and options

Where does one start with determining whether you should partner with an agency, hire in-house specialists or contract freelancers?Without sounding like a broken record and stating the obvious, that depends on several factors. Your requirements, timeframes, existing team capability and budget will be drivers in determining the right approach. Let’s examine these options and help you better understand how they can be applied and utilised effectively by your business.

1. Digital marketing agency

Let’s start with the option that probably got you here to begin with, hiring a digital marketing agency. It should come as no surprise that partnering with an agency can quickly inject capability into your business without the overheads, legal obligations and costings of hiring dedicated marketing specialists.One of the most compelling benefits that they can provide is the leveraging of talent and expertise that extends outside of that which can be provided by dedicated specialists whether within your team or freelancers.What do I mean by leveraging talent? Well, I see on a daily basis what team work looks like within an agency. Team members coming together to provide their expertise, insights and experience for campaign strategy, planning, execution and delivery.Unlike having dedicated staff or freelancing, a digital agency can inject capability that can scale with your requirements and business growth. Instead of having one resource on your campaign, it is common to have several and if things get tricky; agency team members are on hand to provide their colleagues with support.Another benefit is agencies will typically have dozens, hundreds and in some cases thousands of clients and this is often an overlooked benefit. Why is that?Well, in this space data is king as it provides insights into digital strategy, techniques and the impact on performance, the result is the ability to quickly understand and determine what works and what doesn’t and pivot if required.There is no shortage of options out there and agencies you can partner with. It’s critical as we outlined in section 1 and 2 that you are indeed ready to partner, that you have a business plan in place, clear understanding on your targets, goals and objectives and financials, yes, your budget.

2. In-house specialists

In-house specialists can be an expensive option and one that typically provides very specific expertise and capability. In-house specialists do not provide the scalability that an agency team provides.Often these specialists are often under utilised and often business owners find themselves attempting to expand their role and responsibilities to justify the cost of an in-house specialist.Whilst the capability maybe there with in-house specialists, it may not make financial sense and often what we find is that the business owner him or herself attempting to bridge or fill capability holes where possible.An example of this maybe running a paid adverting campaign or social media profiles and accounts themselves. Results and performance can vary greatly but like much small businesses, budget and cost considerations lead to business owners wearing many hats, including ones that require specialists such as digital marketing expertise.We often see in-house specialists working closing digital agencies as this collaboration can provide both the cost benefits, scalability and capability of an agency coupled with existing capability and team members within the business.This combination can provide fantastic results and performance as in-house specialists can be a conduit for both businesses and teams.

3. Freelancers

Freelancers can provide fantastic value and capability for your business, unlike having dedicated in-house specialists, they can provide the flexibility in regards to costings and service hours; alleviating one of the pitfalls of having full time, in house staff.They can provide complementary capability and expertise and can be cost effective additions for any business. Examples of where we often see freelancers utilised include: local web design & development capability, copywriting, creative design such as photography and videography.Freelancers provide you with talent that extends far outside of local talent. There is no shortage of sites where hiring freelancers is straight forward and simple, providing you with insights such as client feedback and reviews, cost effective project options and flexibility.Much like in house specialists, it’s imperative that freelancers and agencies are in the position to work together in a cohesive fashion, the last thing you want is to be project managing both parties if it can be avoided.

Where to now?

As you can see, there are benefits for all three options and you may find utilising all of them during various stages of your digital journey.How do you assess capability before you decide which agency, potential recruit or freelancer you should go with?There is no shortage of review websites such as Google My Business reviews, as an example to hear feedback and testimonials from real world clients including reviews sites and forums.As I mentioned at the very beginning of this section, the capability and expertise you require will dictate the level your investment. This should align with your requirements; your digital objectives and goals.Most agencies will provide the usual “suite” of services such as search engine optimisation, paid per click marketing, social media marketing, email &content marketing with many also supporting web design & development requirements.Their portfolio size of clients may range anywhere from the teens into the thousands and costs can vary significantly as I outlined earlier.Ensure you ask questions of a prospective agency, with questions such as:

“What are some of the clients you have worked with”
“What industries do you specialise in?”
“What are your service & management fees, what is your pricing based on?”
“Can you provide case studies of clients you have worked with?”
“What are your service deliverables and timeframes?”
“Do you have contracts for your services?”

When speaking to an agency, ensure they clearly understand your requirements and expectations. We will discuss both later on in this article and how to validate which partner is right for you.When looking to hire in-house or freelancers, the same applies. Ask to see their portfolio, example of previous work, employment references and interview them as you would with any other potential recruit.